The correlation between peer violence and COVID-19

Abstract

Bullying is defined as undesirable behavior characterized by continued aggression and power imbalance, which can have serious consequences for the victim. One in five children worldwide is exposed to some form of peer violence. Exposure to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in school-age children who had experienced peer violence had a major additional negative impact on their life as a whole. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between COVID-19 exposure and peer violence among students of the 5th and 7th grade of primary school and 1st year of secondary school in Serbia, in the school year 2021/2022. The survey was conducted using a nationally representative sample of 3513 school-age children as a secondary analysis of the data obtained in the cross-section study "Health Behavior in School-aged Children Survey", HBSC. The statistical significance of the difference in frequency of exposure to violence and COVID-19 exposure was calculated using the Hi-square test. The findings showed that students who had been exposed to peer violence were more likely to suffer a negative impact of COVID-19 on their life as a whole (29%). For every third student exposed to peer violence, COVID-19 had a severely negative impact on mental health and a rather negative impact on overall health, a severely negative impact on relationships with friends, school performance and financial situation. Future steps need to be considered and programs created to address the problem of increased exposure to violence of children and adolescents and prevent mental health disorders.